


fredag

by loveglasses



Category: Original Work, SKAM (Norway)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Actors, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, EXTREME Canon Divergence, F/F, Meta, Not Beta Read, We Die Like Men, extremely meta, this entire fic is based on meta
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2020-03-19
Packaged: 2020-08-10 20:14:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20141329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loveglasses/pseuds/loveglasses
Summary: Eva talks with Even on the phone about life. They haven’t seen each other in a while, and the conversation roams over almost all subjects known to humans. Or at least all subjects known to Eva.Somehow, it gets to career, and Eva asks, “How is your career going?”“Well,” Even replies with hesitation clear in his tone.There is a pause, a meaningful and suggestive pause that means that either something is wrong or something is not going to go the way she expects it to.





	1. stranger and strangers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eva talks with Even on the phone about life. They haven’t seen each other in a while, and the conversation roams over almost all subjects known to humans. Or at least all subjects known to Eva. 
> 
> Somehow, it gets to career, and Eva asks, “How is your career going?” 
> 
> “Well,” Even replies with hesitation clear in his tone. 
> 
> There is a pause, a meaningful and suggestive pause that means that either something is wrong or something is not going to go the way she expects it to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello! welcome to my submission for the skam wlw mini bang! i tried really hard on this fic, and this is probably the most words i've ever written for one fic! i really hope that you enjoy my work. as this was for the mini bang, i got to work with an amazing artist (nevhada on tumblr)! she drew an absolutely stunning piece of art that i'm humbled to say is based on my fic!

“Eva, I have a role for you,” Even says.

Eva furrows her eyebrows. She had long given up her dreams of being an actress. Sometimes, she fantasizes about it, about receiving awards at events in Norway, like Gullrutten, and events abroad, like Cannes and the Oscars. She thinks of films with her in them (maybe even with her starring in them, if she truly is dreaming) in film festivals and movie theatres. Now, she is focused on her path of an IT engineer. Her dreams are made up of Google Norway or starting up a company. (She might not be able to do Silicon Valley, but she can do Norway.)

“What?” she finally asks.

“A role for you, Eva, in my next movie,” Even says.

“I’m honored, Even, I truly am.” Eva pauses. “Sorry Even, I have to go.” She removes the phone from her ear and moves to press the end button. 

“Wait, please?” Even replies, his voice quiet from not being on speakerphone. “Listen, at least. Humor me.” 

“Alright, I will. What would it be?” she asks, putting the phone back to her ear.

“You would be playing the role of Hanne Enge. You are a second year in school and you’re tasked to help a new girl around the school. Except you fall in love with her. And you have to come to terms with that. Then, she asks you out. You both have to deal with the struggles of being a couple and coming out as a couple.” 

Eva mulls for about half a minute.

“I’m intrigued,” Eva says. “I’ll let you know."

* * *

Eva is strongly rooted in her bisexuality. She really doesn’t know if she wants to play a girl that sounds like she’s straight.

She opens her phone, and then she opens the messaging app on the phone.

“Would I be playing an initially straight girl?” she types to Even. She thinks about the text, then deletes the text. 

“What is Hanne’s sexual/romantic identity at the beginning of the film?” she drafts. It’s less personal and aggressive, more neutral. More distanced. This one seems good. She sends it.

Even texts back about two minutes later.

“Not straight, this isn’t about coming to terms with yourself/Hanne, it’s mostly about internal and external discrimination (homophobia, biphobia, etc??) Hanne knows that she’s not straight. (Internal questions: Am I bisexual? Am I a lesbian? Do I want to use the term ‘queer?’ Am I bisexual ‘enough?’ Am I lesbian ‘enough?’ Is queer a good term for me?) I’m not going to list external discrimination because we both know it and it’s nasty.”

Eva picks up her phone and responds with, “I’m in for now. When are tryouts?” 

“Never,” Even instantly replies. He sends another text, “No tryouts because I can’t picture anybody else besides you in the role.”

Eva grins and sends, “I’m leaving if you’re like James Cameron.”

“Fuck him,” Even texts back, and Eva smiles. 

“I’d rather not,” Eva replies. 

Even follows with a series of puking faces.

“Anyways, you will be paid well and not forced into freezing cold water just to sexualize you,” he adds.

Eva follows with a thumbs up.

“Also, you get a significant cut of the film’s profits,” Even responds.

“Ok, ok! I said yes, Even! I’m even willing to do computer repair if need be,” Eva sends.

“If you need to/can, I’ll still pay you,” Even texts back.

“No need, friends and family discount.”

“Really?” 

“Of course.”

* * *

Eva goes to bed around 20:30 and wakes around 04:15 or 04:30. It’s her tradition on weekdays. (On weekends, she does whatever the hell she wants. They’re weekends, after all.) 

Today, she’s about to go to bed around the same time as always. She washes her face, does her facial routine, the usual. Everything’s the same.

She’s mulling, which is normal for her, but she’s mulling about being an actress. Actually an actress. Everything’s the same, but it’s different, too. Tomorrow, she will wake up knowing that her old dreams, her old fantasies, aren’t old anymore. They are both new and realistic, knowing Even and his style of filming. 

Acting seems now like an abandoned city to Eva. The citizens had to evacuate it and it seemed as if it would never be repopulated. But now, people are going back to the city, and Eva is looking back and changing.

She wipes off excess toner and turns the lights off. She opens the door and leaves the bathroom. She sighs and walks the few steps to her bed. Then, she’s flopping in and tucking the covers over her. She stretches to turn the lamp off and takes her glasses (the ones that she only uses at night and in the early morning) off. 

Then, she somehow falls asleep. 

* * *

Eva wakes up at 04. She rubs the sleep out of her eyes and takes the sheets off of her. She turns the lamp on and retrieves her glasses. She puts them on, and she can see again. Glorious. 

She gets out of bed and stretches. For some reason, sleeping feels both rejuvenating and like she has aged to 85 within one night. Luckily, she can get rid of the weird “aging” feeling by stretching her arms, her legs, her wrists, her ankles, and everything else. 

Then she goes to make the bed. It’s menial tasks like this that make her feel normal. Fold the sheets back, flip the pillows over, take the sheets back up and make it look nice. It’s robotic but it’s robotic in a strangely comforting way. She takes the throw pillows that have fallen to the ground (as always) and arranges them on her bed.

If nothing else, Eva can make beds so well that IKEA could envy her.

She walks to the bathroom, goes to wash her hands and then brushes her teeth with a meager amount of toothpaste. She washes her hands again (in case she has to touch her eyes so that they won’t get all minty and sting horribly), and then she takes her clothes off and takes a shower.

Some people like taking cold showers, and some people like taking reasonable temperature showers. Eva likes it when her water is burning hot. 

She hums a bit of an old song from the 50s. It’s in English and a bit of it is in Spanish, so she can sing it well enough.

“Will we have rainbows day after day? Here’s what my sweetheart said,” Eva sings. She knows that she’s off-key, but it’s the shower, and it’s probably 4:30, so it doesn’t really matter. She’s not performing for Eurovision. She’s singing for herself. 

She eventually tears herself from the shower (the water was getting a bit cold and Eva cannot stand that) and wraps herself in a towel. 

“What should I wear, what should I wear?” Eva asks herself in a singsong voice. She decides to wear jeans (because of course) and a grey sweater on top. 

She changes and doesn’t do much. She turns on the TV and watches a bit of _ The West Wing _ with Norwegian subtitles. It’s funny but also filled with drama. She’s just starting the show, but she thinks she likes it, except for the heteronormativity. 

Around 6:00, she receives a message from Even.

“This is your co-actress, Noora Amalie Sætre, who is playing Vera Lyng, the romantic interest of your character.”

Eva opens her phone and looks at the picture that Even had sent.

“_Faen_,” she says aloud.

She’s beautiful, Noora, that is, with short blonde hair and expressive eyes, as well as lips that looked as soft as clouds.

“_Takk_,” she simply sends to Even.

Well, at least she won’t have to act too hard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> go check out nevhada (the artist) on tumblr (nevhada.com), instagram (@nevhada), and twitter (@itsnevhada)!


	2. fredag interlude one

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is a bit shorter than the other ones. all of the chapters will probably be much, much longer. the fredag chapters somewhat correspond with the events happening in real life. this is a finished version of the movie, not a draft.

A girl, Hanne, doodles in her sketchbook/notebook.

The camera pans around the room, showing not only Hanne at different angles but also the clock, the aesthetic parts of the room, and the sketchbook, which has “Fredag” written in different lettering styles across the page. There are cursive, calligraphy, and capital letters alike. Some have been embellished, some haven’t. At the top, in small capital letters, it says, “Jeg kan nesten ikke vente på…”

The 5:30 alarm rings.

“Dritt!” she exclaims. Hanne closes the sketchbook and picks some clothes. The outfit is a maroon LOFT t-shirt and high-rise blue Madewell jeans. There are clips of her doing normal stuff in the bathroom. She brushes her teeth and spits into the sink. She washes her face, as well.

Hanne changes into her clothes. She is shown from the back with no bra on (and then eventually there is one), and then a shirt. (Hanne changes off-camera and off-set into everything else.) She adjusts her shirt and jeans on camera again.

She puts on socks and goes down to the kitchen, where she grabs a banana and takes some (medical) pills with water.

She scarfs the banana down and then puts a light coat on. She stuffs her purse into her backpack, both of which have a Fjällräven logo on them. She then throws her backpack over her shoulder.

Hanne opens the door and scurries out, breaking into an Olympic-level sprint. She slows a little once she gets closer to the bus stop. Hanne puts her headphones on once she gets to the bus stop. She opens the music app and presses shuffle on a playlist titled, “morgen.” It plays “Ready or Not” by Big Phony.

While the song plays, Hanne sits on the bus and the camera pans to show some scenery outside of the bus. She makes it to school and heads to it.

She enters the principal’s office and the principal motions for Hanne to sit down.

“Ok, Hanne,” the principal says. “Make sure to help our new student, Ms. Lyng, at school, and make her feel… familiar, in a way.”

Hanne nods. “I will.”

Vera enters the room. She has a grey backpack on, according to the strap. Vera has cropped blonde hair and blue-grey eyes that look like a stormy ocean. She doesn’t need any makeup to make her any more beautiful, but her lips are painted with carmine red lipstick, and she looks at Hanne with a smile on her face.

“Hanne, this is Vera Lyng. Vera, this is Hanne Enge,” the principal says.

They shake each other’s hands, tentatively but firmly, and Hanne can’t help but stare in wonder at Vera.

A little shot from outside of the window shows them for a little bit, getting familiar. It appears in small caps text outside of the building, a small, difficult to notice glory. _**Fredag**_. 


	3. coffee and cider

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eva and Even sit down at a table by the window. Eva asked for Even not to bring his computer, and Eva didn’t bring hers, so it’s just a (heavily platonic) coffee date. They sit and sip their drinks silently for a little bit, and Eva decides to break the ice.

“When is the first reading?” Eva asks.

“No idea. However, we have a meeting of the cast on _ Fredag _,” Even replies.

They're in the KB by Nissen. Eva has sugary sweet coffee that both neutralizes and energizes her. Even has a latte (with agave, because he’s too damn healthy and he’s also annoying like that). 

“So, we’re just going to get familiar with one another, then?” Eva asks.

“_Ja _, pretty much,” Even answers.

“Sounds good.” She takes a sip of her drink. It’s good, it’s sweet, of course, so it’s good. 

Even smiles at her and sips on his latte.

“How’s Isak?” she asks.

Even’s eyes light up. Eva smiles, Isak and Even both light up so much whenever they talk about each other. “He’s doing wonderfully! His university work seems to be a bit harsh on him, but he’s taking it well.”

“Of course, the major is rough. How is lab work going?” Eva replies. 

“He says that it’s going well when I ask him. I don’t understand it, though. How does he stay surrounded by multiple dead animal bodies almost all day and not lose his mind?” Even laughs.

“I don’t even know. If there’s more than one dead body in a room, I'm calling somebody,” Eva says. “But Isak is so passionate about this.”

“He is. So, so passionate. His eyes light up whenever he talks about biophysics,” Even says, taking another sip of his latte.

Eva nods and makes an approving noise through a gulp of her drink.

“His eyes light up when he talks about you,” Eva responds.

“Oh, you’re overstating it.” Even blushes. 

“Stop being modest, you guys are in looove.” 

“I’m not being modest!” 

“Even, I’m being serious here. Stop it. Be happy.”

Even bashfully smiles. “Ok, then.”

“Great,” Eva replies. “So anyway, my co-actress.”

“Noora?” Even asks. “Do you have a problem with her for any reason?”

“_ Nei, nei! _” Eva quickly responds. “I’ve never even met her. I just wanted to bring her up. What is she like?” 

“Well,” Even says. “She’s nice, she’s funny, she’s - “

“Can you expand on that?” Eva interrupts.

“I mean, yeah. What details do you want?” 

“What’s her personality on 16personalities?” Eva asks.

“Odd question. I want to say either ENFJ or ENFP.”

“You’re absolutely confident that she’s an extrovert?” 

“She’s an ambivert, but she fits with the more E types of the Myers-Brigg test.”

Eva mulls over this. Eva knows that she’s an extrovert, but not a leader type. She’s not a follower either, though. 16 Personalities could be weird sometimes.

“OK. So when do we meet on _ Fredag _?” Eva asks.

“Does 18 sound good?” Even replies.

Eva opens her phone and checks the calendar. “Yeah, sounds great. Have you preorganized the time? I don’t want to become a primadonna.” 

“No, but I can do that in the future,” Even says.

“I really, really don’t want to be a primadonna. I’m the main actress in your film, and that’s it. You should treat me like everybody else. I’m just me.”

“Ok.”

* * *

It’s about 16 on Fredag and Eva needs to change.

“What should I wear?” she texts Even. “Formal or casual?” 

“Casual is fine,” Even sends. 

Eva gets out black jeans and a white t-shirt. She decides to add color with her blue jean jacket, which has a few bi enamel pins on it. She changes into the outfit, then she looks at herself in the mirror.

She puts on some foundation and blends it, then she puts on some mascara. She adds a bit of highlighter for a bit of glow, then she applies some clear lip oil to give her lips some shine.

“I can do this,” Eva says to herself.

And she can. 

She leaves the house with her head held up high. 

* * *

Eva makes it to the location that Even had told her about earlier.

It’s a cozy thing, like an indie bar and coffee shop amalgamation. There are soft, dim lights that are soft on the eyes, not cheap, glaring bright lights. 

Eva walks inside. 

It is just as cozy inside as it is outside. She sees Isak and Even, and she walks over to them first.

“_ Hei _!” she says to them. “It’s a bit empty, no?” 

“You arrived half an hour early,” Isak states matter-of-factly. Then, he smiles. “There will be more people, I think. Who’s arriving, Even?”

“There’s Sana, because she’s amazing with makeup and is almost as good with staging, which is saying a lot, she’s a literal God with makeup, friends from Bakka are coming because they’re helping with camerawork and editing, Chris, she’s a wizard with camera angles, and some of your friends, right? They agreed to help out,” Even replies.

“Is Jonas coming?” Eva asks, and then she kind of regrets asking.

Isak checks his phone. “Yes.” Then he looks concerned for Eva as if Jonas’s presence might be worrying.

“We’re chill, don’t worry,” Eva says and laughs. “Besides, we’re just friends now. I think we’re better that way.”

“Fair enough,” Even says. He’s looking around nervously like he might’ve done something wrong, and Eva can see Isak grab his hand and squeeze it.

Just then, Sana comes in.

“_ Halla, _ Even!” she says. “ _ Hei, _Eva. How are you?”

Before Eva can say good, Isak, in a singsongy voice, says, “Ok, just forget about me, your friend, Isak, that’s fine Sana, I guess I can expose you now…”

“Shut up, Isak,” Sana replies. She hugs him, then Isak reciprocates. Eva can see Sana whisper something in Isak’s ear, but Eva has no idea what.

“Who else is coming?” Sana asks when she lets go of the hug.

“Noora Amalie Sætre, your brother and his friends, Chris, and some more people. This will just be a time to get to know each other,” Even answers.

“I think Noora and Chris are the only people that I don’t know,” Eva said. 

“Chris is an absolute delight,” Sana says. “You’ll definitely like her.”

“Alright,” Eva replies.

And then Eva turns, and Noora Amalie Sætre, in real life, in the flesh, walks in. 

_ She’s even more stunning in person _, Eva first thinks. 

But then, she notices Noora giving a hug to Even. She shakes hands with Isak, and then Even calls for Eva and Sana. 

Sana steps up first. “Hi, I’m Sana Bakkoush. I’ll be working on makeup and props.” 

“Nice to meet you, Sana,” Noora says. Noora shakes Sana’s hand and Eva steps up besides Sana.

“Hi, I’m Eva. Eva Mohn. Eva Kviig Mohn.” Eva blushes.

“Bond, James Bond,” Noora says in a deeper voice that Eva doesn’t think is natural and then they both giggle.

They shake each other’s hands. Noora’s hands are soft and warm and Eva really doesn’t think that she’s going to have to act much at all in this film. 

“Noora Amalie Sætre,” Noora introduces. Eva thought her voice was a bit higher pitched. 

They sit down next to each other at the large table that Even has gotten them. 

“We have to act like we’re in love, right?” Noora asks. “Tell me about yourself.”

Eva doesn’t even take the consideration that it’s their characters, which are different from their real-life selves. “Well, I’m bisexual, so that’s a thing. I have a jean jacket with patches, not a lot of patches, but quite a few patches. It’s so comfortable, too.” She laughs. “That’s a bit superficial, isn’t it?” 

“No, not at all,” Noora replies. In English, she says, “Queer rights!”

Eva laughs and she knows that she enjoys spending time with Noora, and wishes that she could spend time with Noora forever.

“20 Questions?” Eva asks. 

“Sounds good,” Noora replies.

“Favorite color?” Eva asks.

“Dark yellow. I can’t wear it, but I love it,’” Noora replies. “If there were no conflicts or problems in the world, like war and disease, where would you travel to?

“I have to think about this one,” Eva admits. She ponders and then answers. “All over the Middle East, probably. There are so many cool things there, but we can’t see any of them, because of travel advisories and conflicts.” 

Noora nods. “Yeah. I get that. And some things have been destroyed, too."

“Yeah, yeah,” Eva says. “What would be your perfect day?”

“My perfect day? I’d wake up around nine, get ready, look nice and presentable, then go to IKEA and wander throughout the entire store. Then, repeat with indie bookstores, and stop for lunch when I get hungry. And then, around six, if I’m not already with somebody, go on a date or a ‘date.’” Noora puts the word in air quotes. “We’d probably go out for pizza, like nice pizza. Italian pizza. We could split a Margherita or something.” She laughs. “I haven’t really focused on that part.”

“That sounds like a lot of fun. Would you make fun of the things you see in IKEA?” Eva asks. “Like, wow, what a steal! A pack of two marshmallows, which was originally ten kroner!” 

“Would that be in IKEA, though?” Noora replies. “But if I’m with somebody, yes. And that’s more than one question. Looks like I have to ask you a few, too.”

“That didn’t count. And you asked one too,” Eva pouts. She’s really not mad though, so she accepts her fate. “It’s alright.” In English, she says, “Fire away, baby!” 

They both lunge in fits of giggles.

“It looks like you two are getting along,” Even remarks from behind them. 

Eva looks back and says, “Guilty as charged. You’re being such a cliché that you’re going to make us class partners because we’re talking, no?”

“You’re going to be class partners because she,” Even points at Noora, who Eva turns to so that she can look at Noora, “Is a new student and you are going to be assigned to be her partner. In class.”

“I lived in Madrid for a while, I could be moving from there, right?” Noora asks. Eva takes this information. Eva took a Spanish class, but her Spanish was only mediocre even when she studied. 

“And we could be partners in Spanish?” Eva asks. 

“That’s a good idea,” Even replies. 

Isak somehow interjects without anybody seeing them. “Ha, gay. Also, how much do you remember from Vg1-3?”

“That’s the point,” Eva replies, smiling. “And I remember enough Spanish. Don’t doubt my skills.”

“_ Hvem er det _ ?” Noora asks. _ Who is that? _

“That,” Even stops to point at Isak, “is my boyfriend.”

“I’m feeling objectified!” Isak says. He whispers something in Even’s ear and Even shivers. 

Eva absolutely does _ not _ want to know what just happened. She looks at Noora and Noora looks at her and they share a look at each other and mutually understand what just happened and make a silent pact to forget that it happened. 

“So, Spanish class,” Eva says and Noora nods. Eva continues, “Should that be our first class? So that we interact? In _ una idioma romántica.” _

“Well, social science is also a romance language,” Even replies and then Noora and Eva laugh, and then Even joins in, because formalities are fucking stupid and Eva thinks they all know that. God, she’s acting so drunk, and she hasn’t even had anything yet.

Somebody comes around to take their drink order. Eva quickly scans the menu, and decides to just order whatever Noora is ordering.

It goes to Noora and Noora doesn’t hesitate. “Do you have soft apple cider?”

Eva nods, and she figures that Noora doesn’t drink. It’s okay. Eva shouldn’t be drinking either.

“Yes, we do,” the server says. “Would you like that?”

“Yes, please,” Noora replies and Eva can see her smile.

“What would you like?’ the server asks Eva.

“Oh, um,” Eva trails off and tries to think. “I’ll get the same thing as her, please.”

“Alright.” the server writes something on the sheet. The server moves on to the rest of the table. Both Noora and Eva stay silent until the server leaves the table.

“Do you also not drink?” Noora asks.

How does Eva answer that? Yes, she does, but not for tonight? She’s just trying to look good in front of a pretty, hopefully-sapphic girl? “Of course I drink. You drink too. Water and apple cider.”

Noora laughs and doesn’t ask a follow-up question, which Eva is infinitely grateful for.

“Two down for each of us, I guess,” Eva says. “Why do you not drink?” 

“In the past, it was because I chose not to,” Noora replies and Eva looks in Noora’s eyes and Noora’s eyes are sad, but her face is trying to hold a smile.

“I’m sorry, you don’t have to talk about it,” Eva says and she knows she’s done something wrong.

“Ok,” Noora says after a bit of silence.

“Ok,” Eva repeats.

* * *

They get through with a lot less awkwardness and they’re laughing and not paying attention to the rest of the people.

“Eva!” Sana calls out. “Meet Chris!”

“Alright!” Eva answers. 

“_ Dritt _!!” Noora swears aloud. “I haven’t met anybody else.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll introduce you to everyone. As in, I’ll ask Sana if you can join us and she’ll introduce us to everyone else,” Eva responds and Noora laughs. Her laugh is so pretty. Eva wants to make Noora laugh for hours.

They both get up to get to Sana. 

“Hi, Sana!” Eva says.

“_ Hei, _ Eva,” Sana replies. “Hi, Noora.”

“_ Hei _!” Noora says. “I wanted to meet everyone and get to know them better, but I was a bit caught up with Eva.”

“Yeah,” Eva replies sheepishly.

“It’s okay. Noora, for makeup, do you know what your undertone is?” Sana asks.

“Neutral, I think,” Noora responds. 

“_ Takk _,” Sana says and she takes her phone out and types something.

A girl walks over. She has long, brown hair and is glowing. Eva entertains the idea of a similarity to Mary Lambert, but the face is completely different. Nothing like Mary Lambert. 

“This is Chris,” Sana introduces.

“I’m Noora,” Noora says, and then Eva echoes her with her own name.

“Nice to meet you,” Noora says when her and Chris shake hands. Chris says, “Nice to meet you too.”

Chris and Eva shake hands second. Eva stumbles when saying, “Nice to meet you” and Chris grins and says, “Good to meet you, too.”

Then, there’s another girl further down. She has white blonde hair, a lesbian flag pin that has the Maya Kern design on it, and a loose white dress. “That’s my friend,” Chris says. “Vilde Lien Hellerud.”

“_ Hei _!” Vilde says excitedly. “Nice to meet you guys.”

They shake hands and share essential niceties.

“Are you two the main stars?” she asks Noora and Eva.

“Yeah, I’m playing the main character,” Eva replies.

“And I’m the love interest,” Noora sighs happily. “This is the gayest I’ve felt in a long while.”

Vilde grins and then she says happily, “Good luck!”

They go around and introduce themselves to everybody until they’re exhausted.

* * *

Eva feels like falling over. Her high heeled sandals are pretty, but not too practical for walking around and her feet hurt. Her outfit is comfortable, yes, but the straps are digging into her feet and it hurts so much and -

“Are you okay?” Noora asks.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Eva winces. “I’m not fine, my shoes hurt like hell.”

Noora laughs. “Yeah, it looks like it. Do you want to sit?”

“Yes,” Eva admits with a sigh. She forgets about the pain in her feet, and looks at Noora, and she wants to dance with Noora, wants to bring Noora close and -

They’re coworkers. Plus, they just met. Eva shouldn’t even be thinking about this. But Noora is just so pretty and Eva has eyes that can see and she has a mind that can think.

“Will you wear those while we’re filming?” Noora asks.

“Of course not, I’m wearing comfy shoes,” Eva says. “Hell, I’m going to ask Even if I can wear slippers.”

“We’re going to have a sleepover?” Noora replies.

“With comfy slippers,” Eva says. “We’re going to spend the budget on ridiculously comfy slippers.”

Noora laughs again and says, “Well, I’ll hold you to it.”

* * *

Eva doesn’t want to leave.

She’s sober, but she’s drunk on the atmosphere. She’s not high or anything, but she’s feeling stupidly happy. 

One could say that her drug is named Noora Amalie Sætre. 

But eventually, a high wears off, and has to go away, and so Noora had to leave.

“Thank you,” she says to Eva. “I had an amazing time, and I can’t wait to work together.

“I can’t wait either,” Eva says. “I’ll see you around, then?”

“Yeah,” Noora replies.

Eva leaves soon after Noora does. It’s getting late, and she needs to sleep eventually and even though it’s going to be the weekend, she still has stuff to do.

While she walks home, she reflects. And she smiles, because she met Noora, and Noora has given her a new hope.


	4. fredag interlude two

Hanne and Vera leave the principal’s office. Hanne, though trying her best to conceal it, looks nervous. She, however, has a smile on her face, as does Vera.

“Vera?” she asks. “Can I check your schedule?”

Vera fishes out her schedule and hands it to Hanne.

Hanne looks over it and says, “Yup, you’re in my classes. Probably on purpose, because you know. The school assigned me to you and all of that.” She keeps stumbling over her words. She knows her nervousness must show now, but she has to stay cool somewhat.

“That’s nice to know,” Vera says. “Can you sit next to me? You don’t have to, but I’d like to sit next to you.”

“Are you sure that you don’t want to meet everyone?” Hanne asks.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Vera replies with a smile on her face. “You seem nice anyway.”

“Thanks,” Hanne says, forgetting what she was going to say. “You do, too.”

“_Gracias_,” Vera thanks in Spanish before they enter their classroom.

The teacher is a blonde lady who’s not originally from a Spanish speaking country, but she knows the curriculum well enough.

“_Hola, clase,_” she greets and Hanne has to look at Vera, who’s looking at the teacher. “_Hoy es lunes, y nosotros tenemos una estudiante nueva_.” Subtitles appear underneath while the teacher is speaking. _Today is Monday, and we have a new student._

The teacher points to Vera to introduce herself and Hanne looks at Vera, who stands up.

“_Mi nombre es Vera_, ” Vera says smoothly, without a hint of a Norwegian accent or hesitation. Hanne visibly marvels at Vera’s fluency. So does the teacher. “_Tengo diecisiete años, y yo fuí a Madrid para mis estudios. No soy de Madrid, porque yo voy a Madrid mucho._” _My name is Vera. I’m sixteen years old, and I went to Madrid to study. I am not from Madrid, but I go to Madrid a lot._

“Wow,” Hanne says once Vera sits back down. “Your Spanish is really good.”

“_Muchas gracias,_” Vera replies. _Thanks a lot._ They’re supposed to be speaking in Spanish, after all.

“_Para todos excepto Vera, saca tu tarea, por favor,”_ the teacher says. _For everybody except Vera, take out your homework, please._

Hanne takes out her homework and softly swears. It’s blank, and a quick pan over at the clock shows that she doesn’t have enough time to do it now. She quickly scans the story and the questions and hopes that they’re all in the text.

The teacher calls on four other people for the first four questions, so Hanne circles those answers and works on the rest of the homework.

“_H__anne, ¿qué hace este personaje principal de esta historia?_” the teacher asks. _What does the main character do in this story?_

Hanne desperately looks around in the text. “Uh, _ella se siente sola._” _She feels alone_.

“_Bueno, bueno._ Marius…” _Good, good._

Vera whispers into her ear. “How did you understand that question?”

Hanne whispers back, “I have no idea. Wasn’t it asked incorrectly?”

“Yes, it was.” Vera raises her hand up high into the air, far more than enough for the teacher to notice it.

“_Vera, no necesitas responder a las preguntas,_” the teacher said. _You don’t need to respond to the question._ “_¿Necesitas algo?_” _Do you need anything?_

“_Acerca de la cuatra pregnant, preguntaste de manera incorrecta, ¿no? La forma correcta sería ‘¿Cómo son los protagonistas de la historia?’_” Vera says. _About the fourth question, you asked it incorrectly, no?__ The correct form of the question would be, “How does the main character feel in this story?”_

The teacher looks at Vera, considering her addition. She looks at the question and looks at the response. “_Tienes razon. Lo siento._” You’re right, I’m sorry.

Vera smiles. It’s not a smug or mean spirited smile, it’s just a bright little smile that has her red lips (from lipstick) curl up as if her happiness is a secret that nobody knows.

“_Hablar con tus parejas para dos minutos_,” the teacher says. _Talk to your partners for two minutes._ After the teacher hears some smatterings of Norwegian, she says, “_En español, ¡por favor!_” _In Spanish, please!_

Hanne says, “_¿Por qué es ser diferente de estar?_” _Why is ser different from estar?_

Vera shrugs. “_No sé._” _I don’t know._

“_Porque,_” Hanne says, drawing it out. _Because._ “_Español es,_” she emphasizes the _es_ because it’s a conjugated form of _ser_, to be. _Spanish is…_ “... una perra.” _… a bitch._

Vera snorts. “_Continuas._” _Continue._

“_Es una perra a mi_,” Hanne clarifies. It’s a bitch to me. “_Soy morena. Estoy triste. Tengo hambre. !Un verbo! ¡Un verbo es bueno!_” _I’m brown-haired. I’m sad. I’m hungry. One verb is good!_ “_Pero, no._” _But, no._ She drags out the _no_ in a whiny way. “_Tres verbos, no, ¡más verbos! ¡Todos los verbos!_” _Three verbs, no, more verbs! All the verbs!_

Vera laughs. “_Es un poco extraño. Pero, es necesitar, ¿no? Es difícil, pero es bastante importante. Si todos es fácil, nosotros no podemos tener muchas oportunidades._” _It’s a bit strange. But isn’t it necessary? It’s difficult, but it’s quite important. If everything is easy, we cannot have many opportunities._

Hanne sighs. “_Sí, sí, las oportunidades de verbos._” _Yes, yes, the opportunities of verbs._ Both her and Vera start laughing.

The teacher comes over and they both tense up.

“_¿Qué es tan hilarante?_” the teacher asks. _What’s so funny?_

They both are quiet now.

“_La conversación fue en español,_” Vera replies because the conversation was in Spanish.

“_Yo hablé con Vera en español y no tenemos una tema específica_,” Hanne confirms._ I was speaking with Vera in Spanish and we didn’t have a specific topic._

“_Lo siento mucho,_” the teacher apologizes and she goes back to her desk.

The camera pans out, showing that Hanne and Vera were talking for the rest of the time. They stay in their classroom, waiting for the next teacher to come. They talk while waiting.

“Lage is a skater boy. Actually, no. He’s an sk8r boy, with the 8 because he has the enthusiasm and energy of an eight-year-old. There’s Marius, he answered a few things in class earlier. He’s nice, but horribly shy.”

“Horribly?” Vera asks.

“Horribly,” Hanne confirms. “Last year, he tried to ask out a girl that he liked from a different school and he had multiple nervous breakdowns. I saw him slamming his head against a tree while he was wracking his brain to figure out how to ask her out. His friends weren’t exactly happy about it, either.”

Vera winces. “So, what happened?”

“It didn’t exactly work out. She had just started dating a girl from the year above her, who actually has friends in Marius’s friend group. The girl that he asked out was really nice about it, apparently.”

Vera nods. “Okay.”

“Then, there’s Naomi. She’s pretty chill and wears yellow a lot. She’s really friendly. Lots of fun to talk to,” Hanne says. “The last time I talked to her, we talked about Oreo mitosis.”

“Oreo mitosis?” Vera asks.

“We were paired for a project in natural science and we had the idea to display mitosis through Oreos and sprinkles. We had to finish the project at school, though. It was still great, delicious, and it gave us a 5+.” Hanne grins.

Vera nods curtly. “Oreo mitosis.”

They burst out into laughter.

“Ollivar is the leader of a russebuss. The name is ‘Game Playahs’ or something like that. It’s stupid.” Hanne sighs. “Like him.”

“Gross.” Vera shudders. “He doesn’t sound like somebody I want to hang out with.”

“He isn’t. Trust me,” Hanne replies. “Then, there’s Amira…”

The camera zooms out to them talking and laughing to each other until the teacher comes in. Then, there’s a fast forward to the end of the day.

Hanne and Vera’s lockers are near each other. Vera is already packed up and ready to go, but she is lingering by Hanne’s locker.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then,” Vera says.

“I will,” Hanne says solemnly.

“Here, put your number in my phone,” Hanne adds quickly. She takes out her phone, unlocks it, and then gives it to Vera. Vera goes to the contacts app and adds her name and her number.

“Text me?” Vera asks and Hanne nods quickly.

“I will, once I get on the bus,” Hanne promises.

She zips her backpack up and then she takes out her phone. The camera zooms in on the screen.

She goes into the contacts app and adds a few red hearts to Vera’s contact.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comment if you recognize marius ;)  
(yes, i ship eposette.)
> 
> if none of that makes sense to you, that's okay, just know i didn't come up with the plot.


	5. a rush of adrenaline (and maybe sugar)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eva’s life is a polychrome. Her days are full of excitement and anticipation. Her homework is a breeze, and she even finds time to study a little. 
> 
> She texts Even, “Anything movie-wise this week?”

Even quickly sends a reply. “_ Tirsdag _ at 13:45. We’ll do some script stuff that I didn’t do over the weekend with the writers.”

Eva responds with a thumbs up. 

13:45. _ Tirsdag. _She has nine hours that day to pace around and find an outfit to look nice in. Nine hours to come up with ideas and throw them away (metaphorically). Seven and a half more hours than she knows what to do with. 

She should study for an hour and a half. That leaves her with six hours. Cookies? That should take twice as long as expected. She can grocery shop on Monday, ask her mom to use the house (the one they keep for contingencies), and then that could take a little while. Plus, she could bring them to the meeting. 

“Is Noora going to be there?” Eva sends to Even. 

“Yes,” he replies. In a separate text, he adds, “She’s going to help with the script.”

Eva responds with a thumbs up. 

Definitely cookies, then. 

* * *

To set the scene, it’s Mondag. More specifically, it’s 18:45 on Mondag and Eva is at the grocery store, trying to buy ingredients for chocolate chip cookies, and she is on the verge of a breakdown. Why does everybody have eggs on their shopping list? And why do the chocolate chips on display come in such big things? She’ll be stuck with that until she dies if she keeps it. At least she has enough salt and butter at home, and her mom might have things. 

“_ Hei _, Eva!” a familiar voice says. 

“Noora? _ Hei _!” Eva replies. “Small world, no?”

“Yeah!” Noora smiles. “I usually do my grocery shopping around this time. It’s convenient.”

“Mmm.” Eva nods. “Seems like everybody had the things I have on my list.”

“They usually restock the dairy section around this time,” Noora remarks. “You might want to recheck if you had anything dairy on your list.”

“Does dairy include eggs?” Eva asks exhaustedly. “I’ve been looking around and they don’t have any eggs.”

“I guess,” Noora responds. “But definitely milk.” 

“Nice,” Eva says. “Anyways, I have to go into the baking things aisle. Care to join me?” 

“I’d like to join you, yes,” Noora replies. “Shall we?”

“Sure,” Eva says. 

They start to stroll through, passing some of the aisles that Eva doesn’t need to go through. 

“Here it is, the majestic ‘baking things’ aisle,” Eva says. It’s really just another aisle in a grocery store, but it has what she needs. Hopefully. 

“All-purpose flour, dark brown sugar, and white sugar,” Eva mutters. 

“Hmm?” Noora asks. 

“Oh, nothing. Just repeating what I need from here to myself,” Eva explains. 

“Oh, okay.” Noora sounds relieved. “What do you need?” 

Eva repeats the list back to her. 

“All-purpose flour is right here,” Noora says, grabbing it, and handing it to Eva. 

“Thank you,” Eva says, a little bit shocked and a lot bit blushy. 

She turns to hide her blush and also grabs her own bottle of vanilla extract (which she is going to donate to her mother). 

After that, she goes ahead and looks in the sugar area, with Noora behind her. White sugar is relatively easy to find, and she throws a small thing of that into her cart. However, dark brown makes her look harder.

“Do you need help?” Noora asks. 

“No,” Eva says determinedly. Then she looks at Noora’s face and reconsiders. “Maybe?”

“Okay. I’ll help.”

* * *

Through lots of searching, asking, and miracles, Eva eventually gets the dark brown sugar. 

“Thank you so much,” Eva says. 

“It was nothing,“ Noora replies. Eva gives her best doubtful look. Noora adds, “Okay, it was something. But it gave me something to do on a boring _ Mondag natt _ while grocery shopping, and that’s good, I guess.”

“Well, thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow, then?” Eva responds. 

“Definitely. I can’t wait,” Noora says. 

Eva smiles. _ Me neither _ , she wants to say. But instead, she says, “Ok. _ Ha det!” _

“_ Ha det _,” Noora replies and makes everything figuratively shatter. She sees Noora walking to the cash register, which just makes Eva feel a little bit guiltier than she already is. 

Eva looks for everything else, finds it, and then goes to the self-checkout to buy everything, scanning it carefully. 

She ends up leaving the store with a lighter wallet and a heavier heart. 

* * *

It’s _ Tirsdag _ and Eva’s wonderful streak of luck is continuing. Classes are taking their toll on Eva, and she’s not in the mood to study today, despite her not having any classes. Maybe she should take her meds. Yeah, that’s probably it. Eva walks to the kitchen and fills up a glass of water. She then opens her unofficial medicine cabinet and looks for her medications. It shouldn’t be too hard to find, it’s all she has except for cold and fever medications. But she just woke up and her vision is slightly cloudy, so that’s the reason. She should wash her face or something. 

She gets the medication out and grabs the amount she needs. Then, Eva puts it into her mouth and takes a gulp of water. There. Maybe she can actually focus now. She goes back to her room and lies on the bed. No, she has to be a bit productive today. So Eva gets up, walks to the bathroom, and puts a little bit of face wash on her hands. 

Eva spreads it across her face, noting the contrast between her warm hands and the cool face wash, which begins to get warmer the more she works it. She reaches for and eventually turns on the faucet, which sprays the face wash off of her hands. Eva then takes some of that water and splashes it across her face. It’s cold like always, but she still is stunned and needs a moment to recover. Then, Eva takes the face wash off. Her eyes are still closed since she doesn’t want any residue to get into her eyes. She reaches for the faucet, grasps it, and then turns it off. Eva goes for the towel and wipes her face on it. When she’s done, she finally opens her eyes again. Her skin still looks a bit damp, but that’s alright.

Her teeth. They stink. Right. Eva gets her toothbrush, and then she turns the faucet on just a little, darts in with her toothbrush to wet it, and then turns it all the way off. Eva grabs her toothpaste with overdramatized normalcy and puts a dot of it onto her toothbrush. She puts it in her mouth and brushes her teeth, making sure to go over her tongue a few times, despite the fact that it tickles. She spits everything out when it starts to taste foul, and then she rinses her mouth out with water and spits it out again. She sighs. Right now, she’s just Eva. Boring, plain, tired Eva. 

Even though she’s not in the mood, she did set aside an hour and a half to study yesterday, and there’s no point in not trying to study at all. She finishes the work for some of her classes easily, but she’s got a report that’s due next _ Mondag _that she doesn’t want to finish, and she has to tinker around with Python this week. 

Eva massages her brain and decides to work on the Python thing. 

Luckily, Python is doing wonderfully today, and Eva can work on her stuff in relative peace. In the time that she gave herself, she somehow manages to finish enough of the assignment that her teacher gave her that she could finish it easily if she sets fifteen minutes aside another day. 

Eva decides to grab a change of clothes but to not change yet. There’s no point in getting her nice clothes dirty with flour and stuff. She sits on her bed and considers. She could fall back on her reliable outfits, but she should probably be a little more adventurous. 

After a little bit of inner debating, Eva decides to wear black jeans and a white graphic tee, and pair that with some jewelry. Even though Noora will be there, it’s just a script thing, right? Not a fancy event or anything. She stuffs the clothes into her purse, and she has backup socks and stuff in there that she can wear. She grabs her phone and turns it on so that she can look at the time. It’s 06:27. She puts her phone in the front pocket of her purse. 

That means that it’s about cookie time. Eva isn’t envisioning the best cookie ever, but she’s hoping for an edible, enjoyable result. She looks out the window to see if it’s raining. The sky is blue, except for a few small, streaky clouds, a somewhat rarity. 

She goes to the kitchen, takes the stuff out of the fridge, and puts the perishables in an insulated grocery bag that her mom bought for her a while ago. The flour (wrapped in a plastic bag that Eva somehow managed to find), sugars, and chocolate chips are put in a tote bag. She then goes to her door, puts on her shoes, opens the apartment door, steps out, and then closes the door. 

Great. She could leave the house without a disaster. Hopefully, there would be no disasters at all. 

* * *

Eva gets off at one of the parking garage floors. Since cars have been heavily restricted in Oslo, this garage is just full of antique vehicles, bicycles, and foot scooters. It’s also used as storage since nobody really has cars to put in the parking garage. 

She goes to her parking space, which is really just a bunch of shelves with plants that she needs to water and her bicycle. She puts the bags in the basket area of the bike and gets her phone out of her purse. She adds, “water your plants” to the reminders on her phone. Then, Eva puts her phone away and gets onto her bike. She got the bike from her mother as a birthday present from her birthday at the end of her third year, and she’s used it ever since. It’s still nice because Eva tries to take public transportation whenever she can, but there are a few scratches on the bike. 

Eva gets onto the bike, then she gets off, because she needs to position and should position, and then she positions her bike, then gets onto it again. She pedals and then she’s moving and she feels like she’s eighteen and free again and isn’t that pathetic? At twenty years old, she’s already reminiscing about two years ago. She stops and waits for the door to the outside to open, which it does, because she’s leaving and she isn’t trying to infiltrate the building or anything. 

Eva rides past storefronts and parks, past some trucks and delivery vehicles, past a hijabi mom teaching her child how to ride a bike, past a man trying to get his dog out of the plants, past apartment buildings large and small. Oslo, Norway, a beautiful thing. Eventually, she gets to her mom’s house, the one that Eva used to live in. She gets off of the bike in front of the house and drags it to the front door, which she opens with the keys. Then, she puts the bike in the house and rests it against the wall near the front door, which she closes and locks. 

“_ Mamma _?” Eva yells to the house to make sure that her mom isn’t there. There’s nobody there like she thought. She gets the stuff from the basket of the bike and goes toward the kitchen. She sets her purse on the big dining table and sets the other things on the kitchen counters.

Time to get started, then. 

She opens the website on her phone and looks around for the scale. She finds it and then looks for a few glass or metal bowls. She gets a small glass bowl and then puts it on the scale. After that, Eva turns the scale on so that it’s set to zero when she puts the butter in. She unwraps the butter, then looks for a knife. Eva finds a knife and cuts the butter into about ten slices. Then, she decides to do the hack where she can soften butter quickly. It will still take ten minutes, but that can go by quickly. She preheats the oven to 177 degrees Celsius. While the butter softens, she measures everything else on the scale using a different bowl. 

She tries to follow the recipe as best as she can, but she doesn’t have cornstarch, so she just skips that and hopes for the best. Eva mixes everything like the recipe told her to, cream the butter and sugar together, add the rest of the wet ingredients, wash her hands after cracking the eggs so that she doesn’t get salmonella all over everything, then mix the dry ingredients separately, then add dry ingredients slowly so that they don’t get all over the kitchen. Despite the fact that she added the dry ingredients slowly, a little bit of flour somehow got onto her shirt. Since she has a change of clothes, she’s not really worried about it. 

She washes her hands after she finishes adding the chocolate chips in so that she can prepare the trays. She looks around in the drawers and cabinets for two trays and uses the leftover butter wrappers to butter them to make sure that they don’t stick. She turns on her phone to set a ten-minute timer, and then, she spoons the cookie dough into smallish spoons onto the trays. 

She puts them into the oven while managing to not burn herself, and closes the oven up to let them cook. No easy feat, since she’s her like the sky is blue sans clouds and grass is green under most conditions. A given with an asterisk, pretty much. 

Eva then turns on the timer to make sure that she doesn’t let the cookies burn, and then looks around for oven mitts to make sure that she doesn’t burn herself. While looking around, she finds a picture strip of her and Ingrid in a drawer. Huh. She thought that she had lost that ages ago. Apparently not. She closes the drawer since she has no time for “reminiscing” on Grades 7-10 right now. 

Eva goes to the next drawer and finds the oven mitts there. They’re pretty and they’re clean, a flowering rarity in the kitchen. For the next few minutes, she just stands around there, grabbing a few plates for the cookies to cool on. When that batch is done, it’s a nice sight. Eva grabs the trays out of the oven with the oven mitts and immediately sets them onto the stove to make sure that she doesn’t ruin anything. She sets the cookies on the plates to cool and adds the next batch of dough, which happens to be the last one, onto the trays in little balls. 

She puts that batch into the oven, washes her hands, and starts washing the dishes. No relaxing for Eva Kviig Mohn today, apparently. 

“hello,, even is in severe disfunction,,” reads a text from Isak. 

“Is he okay?” she dictates to the phone, which forgets the question mark, prompting her to say, “Question mark?” 

“i would say he’s fine but he was tossing and turning all night and i’m not sure if he managed to get some sleep,” Isak replies. “he’s attempting to sleep now. i think it might be working but if he seems very sleep-deprived, thats why.” 

“Does he need coffee?” Eva texts with her fingers. 

“don’t give him coffee, god, do not give even bech næsheim caffeine when he’s been sleep-deprived, i did that once and that was a huge mistake,” Isak responds.

“Noted. I made chocolate chip cookies though, so, sorry if Even takes one,” Eva answers.

“*unless it’s chocolate, chocolate is perfectly fine for him,” Isak sends.

“Okay. I have to finish washing dishes. Ugh,” Eva texts. She sends a picture of the dishes that she has to do.

“ew. have fun,” Isak replies. “see you later.”

“_ Ha det _,” Eva sends really quickly to Isak, then she puts her phone down and continues with the disappointment of washing the dishes.

* * *

She’s changed into her clothes, cleaned up the kitchen, and packed most of the cookies up. She leaves six cookies in the fridge for her mom, with a note saying, “Love you lots. Call me when you get back, and enjoy the cookies. -Eva.” Eva also ate a cookie while it was warm, and it was wonderfully delicious. She puts the spare ingredients in the cabinets and then afterward, puts the stuff on her bike, locks up the house, and leaves to go to Isak and Even’s. 

This route is relatively familiar. She took this route a lot when she studied with Isak, and she hung out a lot with Even, too. She didn’t get their weed obsession (she never will), but they nursed beers or coffee and talked a lot. then she prepares to leave. She grabs her purse and the cookies and runs downstairs just for the fun of it. Eva opens the door to the outside and puts her stuff into the basket of the bike. Then, she closes the door, locks it up, and climbs onto her bike. 

She takes her phone out of her purse and climbs off of the bike. It’s 09:43, not even close to 13:00. Eva has quite a bit of time to do stuff with, and she has no idea what to do. She’s essentially finished with her assignment, and she’s done some extraneous things, too. What can she do for a bit more than three whole hours?

Well, breakfast, for starters. That sounds nice. Eva looks up the nearest KB because she’s hungry and she’s tired. She’s not sure if caffeine will help, but it sure sounds really nice. It’s somewhat close by bike, so she’s okay with that. She climbs onto her bike again, and then she starts on her journey to Kaffebrenneriet.

* * *

With a café au lait and salted caramel ice cream, Eva sits down at a table inside the KB. She goes through her e-mail to see if there’s anything from her professors or Even. There’s a notification from her Spanish professor reminding everyone that their two-or-more-page paper on Las Amistades Peligrosas was due tomorrow (which Eva finished two weeks after they got it, panicked that it was due, but it wasn’t), and messages from stores reminding her to use their promotions the day that they sent them. None of them were from today, so she just deletes them all. 

Then, she goes to her Instagram. At the beginning of her third year, she misplaced her Instagram password (again), so she made a new Instagram. For some reason, so did a lot of people in her friend group. She now has managed to keep the same Instagram account for three years, which is impressive on her part. She looks through it, surprised to see that she has missed so many posts. There’s a post from Isak that has a picture of Even avidly scrolling through his phone with the caption of “tmw #instafreeeven isn’t so insta-free anymore” and he’s tagged Even on his new account in the photo. She follows Even and sees that it’s private. Even instantaneously accepts her follow request, and she widens her eyes. The sheer number of pictures on Even’s profile is crazy. It was created last night, and it already has 25 posts. That is absolutely ridiculous. There’s some of Isak, some of the amazing pictures he’s taken over the last few years, and then some picture and video memes. Eva hearts all of the pictures and then comments on the most recent meme with, “Don’t steal my title of meme monarch.” 

Even replies with, “honey, there’s a new meme monarch in town.”

Eva responds with, “Battle of the Meme Masters. We don’t even need to make a hashtag, because we already know I’ll win.”

“you sure bout that?” Even replies.

Eva sends an eyeroll emoji and leaves it at that. She goes through the rest of her feed and then likes all of the funny/recent posts.

Before long, it’s almost 10:30. Eva can’t believe that she could stay here for nearly half an hour without her coffee getting cold. 

Even sends her a message on the messaging app with Noora’s contact information. 

“Thank you, meme master,” she texts back.

“Are you to say that I’m winning?” Even sends.

Eva looks around in her meme collection for her “Well yes, but no,” meme. She sends that to Even and he likes the text she sent him. He could’ve replied to her, but nope. Oh well. 

She starts a separate message with Noora as the subject.

“Hi! This is Eva. How are you doing?” she drafts. She deletes the question and then deletes the whole text.

“Hello. This is Eva, Even sent me your contact information.” Eva deletes that. It’s far too informal. She fiddles around and accidentally presses the send button.

Eva panics. “Hi! Sorry, this is Eva. Even sent me your contact information. I didn’t mean to send that, I’m sorry,” she sends. Damage control is always good. 

“No, it’s okay. Blank texts aren’t the end of the world,” Noora texts back. “You’re going to the script event later today, right?”

“Yes, I am! I’m trying to figure out what to do in between now and then, I’m kind of bored right now.”

Noora sends a thumbs up. “You have a world of wonders right here on your phone.”

Eva sighs. “I sadly don’t have headphones with me, then I could enjoy more of them.”

“News is always good,” Noora replies.

“It’s depressing.”

“Cute pictures of puppies and kittens.” Noora sends a picture of a puppy high-fiving someone. “This one was a personal experience,” is its caption.

Eva sends a lot of heart emojis. “That’s absolutely heart-melting, but no.”

“Huh. Well, if cute animals won’t break your armor of boredom, I don’t know what will.”

“Talking to you has made me pretty not bored. Anyways, do you have any ideas for the film?”'

“A few. I kind of made five Google Docs."

“You’re crazy. Send them, please?”

* * *

Another café au lait and a whole lot of data use later, Eva is finally ready to leave KB. It’s around 11:30 (she spent an hour inside that shop!) and Eva is ready to go to Isak and Even’s. She can’t think of anything else to do, so she just starts there on her bike. While she rides, she starts to see the streets get a lot busier from the influx of tourists and businesspeople going to lunch. There are people taking photos of buildings and selfies in front of them, and there are some people hanging out in the shade of trees. 

Eva pedals slower as she reaches a decline, not wanting to fall down the hill or something. She’s twenty years old, she shouldn’t be falling off of a bike. 

Around 12:00, she stops near a grocery store. Eva parks and locks her bike up, and then she goes inside. 

It’s smaller and a different chain than the one she went on Mondag, but it’s somewhat familiar. She looks for the water aisle because she’s really thirsty. It’s towards the exit of the store, but that’s okay. She grabs one of the cheaper 1.5 bottles of water and heads towards the self-checkout. Eva scans the water bottle and then scrounges around for some change. She eventually decides to just grab a 50 kroner note and she puts it into the machine. It gives her 25 kroner change, and she puts the change into her wallet. 

Eva leaves the store and unlocks her bike. She climbs her bike and goes again. 

It’s almost 12:30 by the time she arrives, considering that at points she’s pedaled very slowly, but she’s still early. Eva goes to the door and buzzes into Isak and Even’s apartment. 

They let her into the apartment building and she climbs up the stairs to their floor. They’re on the fourth floor, apartment 405. 

“Eva! Come on in,” Even greets. “How are you?” 

“Good, good!” Eva replies. “I brought cookies. I made them this morning out of boredom.”

“This punctuality streak is terrifying,” Isak says while coming close to the door. “Are you really Eva Kviig Mohn?”

“No, I’m a spy for E14,” Eva replies. Isak rolls his eyes.

Even leads Eva to the kitchen, where there are a few snacks. 

“Should I just set these down here?” Eva asks Even of the cookies.

“Yeah, that’s perfectly fine,” Even answers.

They head to the living room, where Isak is contentedly vegging out on the sofa while watching Netflix. 

“Isak, everybody’s going to be arriving soon,” Even says. 

“Five more minutes?” Isak asks.

“Maybe,” Even replies. “Sit down, Eva. Make yourself at home.”

Eva sits down on the opposite side of the couch from Isak. Even sits next to Isak with his laptop on his lap. 

“Do you want to see the Google Sheets class schedule we made for your character the other day?” Even asks.

“Sure,” Eva replies.

Even opens his computer, types in his password, and eventually gets to the Google Sheets. 

“Here it is,” Even says. 

Eva nods. “So we’re studying Media and Communication, then?”

“Yes, I had to do a bit of research on the school system since it’s changed a little bit since we’ve gone to school, believe it or not. I decided that sprinkling extra school periods after school would be perfectly fine. Vera’s school schedule is the exact same as yours, except there are more after school classes on _ Mondag _ and _ Torsdag _,” Even explains.

“That sounds good. Okay, what school is this at?” Eva asks.

“Bakka, it has a lot of media programs,” Even replies. “And I got permission to film there.”

They pass the time by talking until everybody arrives.

* * *

“_ Halla _, everyone! This is a bit cramped, but I swear we’ll have an office soon, it’s just not done being renovated yet,” Even says. “So, this is just an open session. We’ll review through our notes and then ask for any additions. Does that sound good?”

A semi-cacophonous chorus arises while everybody responds with a yes. 

Eva looks at Noora, who is intently focusing on Even, so Eva decides to do the same. 

The review is interesting but pretty straight-forward for the most part. Eva asks questions when she’s confused, and Even or someone else replies with an understandable answer. 

“Anything that you guys want to add in?” Even asks.

“I think that some of the dialogue should be changed to reflect our experiences a tiny bit more? But you guys did a great job with the script,” Eva says.

“Where?” Even asks.

Eva points out the dialogue that could be changed for the better, and also says, “There’s not enough gay staring. It’s not going to be a realistic depiction of an WLW couple without them staring at each other like they hung the moon.” Noora might not have hung the moon, but she’s painted bold dashes of color across Eva’s sepia palette.

“Noted,” Even says. 

“I did Media and Communication in Vg, and I’m studying journalism now, and there are some parts of the journalism classes that don’t seem that realistic,” Noora says. She points out everything flawlessly and Even nods and agrees to change it.

“I think I should be doing something in the beginning scene. Like, lettering something that says, ‘I can’t wait until _ Fredag _’ or something like that for Graphic Design. And then, closer to the end, there’s going to be something with it,” Eva says.

“Good idea,” Even says, and adds it to his list. 

Everybody’s excused for a snack break a few hours in, and Eva sees a few people eating her cookies, most notably, Noora.

“Have you tried these?” Noora asks Eva. “They’re really good.”

“Um, yeah,” Eva replies. “I made them and I ate one while it was warm. Thank you.”

“Thank yourself. These are amazing,” Noora says. “Normally, I try to stay a bit more in the healthy eating zone, but that’s more than enough to make me break a fast or something.”

Eva can feel her blush on her face. It’s absolutely embarrassing. Other people thank her for the cookies, but none of the compliments make her as blushy as Noora’s. 

When everybody goes back, Even goes over more, and they start assigning roles for people and dates for shooting. 

“I think we should start shooting in about two weeks. Does that sound good?” Even asks.

Eva is a bit surprised to be starting so soon, but she agrees. So does everyone else.

“And remember, this is a socialist democracy, not a fascist dictatorship, so feel free to ask me about anything or to change something!” Even ends.

“Good line,” Noora says.

“I like it. It’s got pizazz,” Eva states.

Isak shows an ever-so-dramatic display of jazz hands.

Noora and Eva linger around for a little bit at the end.

“I guess we’ll see each other in a couple of weeks,” Noora says.

“Not unless we run into each other at the grocery store again,” Eva jokes, which prompts both Noora and Eva to chuckle. 

“Actually, maybe we should meet up next week? Just to get a bit more familiar,” Noora replies. 

Eva can feel her heartbeat speed up by a bit. Curse her nervousness. 

“Yeah, sure. When and where?” Eva asks.

“Does 18:00 on next week _ Onsdag _ work? We can meet up at my place. I can send you the address if that sounds good,” Noora answers.

“_ Onsdag _ definitely works. Thank you for offering up your place,” Eva replies.

“No problem,” Noora says. “I’ll send you the details, then?”

“Sounds great!” Eva responds, cringing a little at her overenthusiasm. “See you then.”

“_ Ha det!”_

“_ Ha det.” _And with that, the two of them go their separate ways, with Eva already aching to meet Noora again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you were wondering (and didn't look it up), e14 was a special unit in norway's intelligence services. it was active until 2005, when eva and isak were 5-6 years old.
> 
> spreadsheet: (copy and paste link) https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1F3oWgmwSG_Ovy-eJVd5_tSfjPJFwOGuB6q08pTzO4lI/edit#gid=0


	6. fredag interlude three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> or, a waltz of pining.

A Chopin Waltz in B minor plays in the background for the entirety of this scene.

Hanne takes the bus to school. Hanne and Vera sit next to each other in class while watching their teachers talk. In a major-sounding part of the song, Hanne shows something to Vera on her phone, and their laughs are audible over the music. At the key change, they're studying at the library, reviewing over multiple books and talking in Spanish. When either Hanne or Vera get something correct, they have a small little celebration for each other.

Vera talks to Hanne at school and they both start laughing. They meet up by their lockers and chat for a little bit. The rubato in the song allows the tempo of the scene to be both quick and slow at the same time. The delicate nature of the piece paints a deeper picture of their relationship. Towards the end, Hanne is sitting in her bed at home. It's simple, with white pillowcases and white bedsheets, but it has throw pillows on it that make it unique. She's texting with Vera according to a pan on the phone screen and she is smiling.

And the routine just keeps on going, through all of their classes. They walk through hallways, Hanne narrowly walking into a person, and talk all of the time. They sit together at lunch, and just talk. They hang out together under the yellowing canopies of the trees. They look at each other's phones.

Their outfits keep changing throughout the week. Hanne started out the week wearing darker colors, but by the end of the week she's considering taking out a white peplum shirt out that she hasn't worn in a long while. Vera's style changes a little bit, too. Her style grows brighter, more confident. She eases more with Hanne around. At school, she wears a darker red lipstick, but near Hanne, when at the library and the cafés, alone together, she wears bright red lipstick. Breaks down her armor, if only just for a little bit.

During lunch on _Fredag_, Vera meets Hanne at the lockers. Hanne is struggling to open her locker, but Vera looks at it determinedly, and punches it. The locker doesn't swing open.

"Thanks for trying," Hanne replies. She tries it again, but it actually opens. Is it merely an odd coincidence?

"Listen, um," Vera says. "I just wanted to ask you something."

"Go ahead," Hanne responds.

"_Har du planer i dag_?" Vera asks. _Do you have plans today_?

Hanne gets her phone out and looks through the calendar. Her schedule is wide open.

"Er, _nei,_" Hanne answers. "After school?"

"Sounds wonderful," Vera replies. They smile at each other.

* * *

The rest of the day has passed, and they leave their classroom. 

"Finally, it's over!" Hanne says. "Is there anywhere in particular where you wanted to go?"

"Not really, maybe just enjoy the weather?" Vera replies.

"That sounds good," Hanne responds. 

They find a bench under a tree whose leaves are turning all different sorts of colors and attempting to leave the tree. 

"It's wonderful now," Vera remarks. Hanne nods in agreement. 

"Soon it will be all cold and everything's going to be dead, but everything's alive now," Hanne says. "It's nice, but scary in a way. Life's temporary."

"But it comes back, no?" Vera replies. "It comes back and it comes back with new leaves and new flowers and new life. Everything's new."

"A cycle, coming back on itself."

"Yeah."

They watch the people, the trees, and the city move as they grow closer to the cold. It's a cycle after all, and they just happen to be here for this very part of it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the waltz is op. 69, no. 2. i wrote this chapter around midnight. it may or may not be a coincidence.  
also, second shortest chapter yet. i think i needed a break after the one that comprised half of my fic so far.


	7. run away with problems, not from them

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eva types in her password and goes onto Google Chrome. She takes a big gulp of her water from her water bottle, and stares at the screen.

It's 15:00 on _Tirsdag _and Eva is finishing all of her homework. 

One particular teacher of hers had decided to assign the class with a 'renovation project' of fixing over one website, and seeing how the website would be changed into a more effective and aesthetic tool, instead of a prayer to click Control and W as fast as possible. This one was a mess. It was supposed to be in English but had Norwegian everywhere. There were errors everywhere in the code. The background color of the website was bright lime green, with dark blue and bright pink text in it. The links were extremely broken and some of the code was written in BASIC. 

_This_ _is_ _going_ _to_ _take_ _an_ _extremely_ _long_ _time_ _to_ _fix, _Eva thinks. She cracks her knuckles and gets to work.

First, she tries to fix the basic things. She changes that god-awful background color to an off-white and then switches the dark blue and bright pink text to black and a dark shade of grey. She takes in the information and tries to find an easier way to sort it all. 

Then, it's the "real"' coding time. Coding is really a pain. By the time she's done with two side pages, it's 16:58, pretty much 17:00. They look nice so far. It's a calming, relaxing theme to go with the theme of the website that it should be going for. 

She turns her computer off and gets up and out of her desk chair. She's still nursing a small headache from the website and prolonged exposure to the Internet in general, so she goes to her bedroom, closes the drapes, and changes into her pajamas. She decides that there's no point in waking up later, so she'll just wake up whenever she feels like it. If she goes to bed early, it really can't be that bad, right?

Probably not. The last glance Eva takes at her clock before trying to fall asleep says 17:13. 

* * *

Eva turns on the lamp and blinks for a little bit.

Being up at 03:49 (according to her clock) is slightly strange. 

On one hand, Eva is used to being up this early. On the other, she slept for ten hours. She's feeling rather rejuvenated, and she has sleep marks all over herself. That's a new occurrence for her on weekdays, and she's not mad about it.

She flips over and checks her phone. Noora texted Eva at 19:17 last night, saying, "hi! how are you doing? can't wait to see you tomorrow."

Eva opens her phone and responds, "Good, how are you? I can't wait to see you later, too."

Then, she realizes that it's 03:52 now and that Noora probably wouldn't be up. 

"I'm sorry if I woke you up, that was not what I wanted to do," she replies quickly. Eva holds onto her heart. Noora doesn't respond. What if she holds a grudge against Eva or something? But it's also almost 04:00, so Noora's probably asleep. She's an idiot. Noora might hear that notification and get up at the same ungodly time that Eva does. _Fy faen, Eva._

Eva groans quietly and rolls over to the edge of her bed. She puts her phone on her dresser and rolls over so that she's facedown. 

_Onsdag_, 04:00. Time to get up. 

* * *

"God, I'm such an idiot," Eva mumbles to herself. 

She's been watching _Patriot Act_, _The Great British Baking Show, _and a whole host of LGBTQ+ movies on Netflix all day. She's only really stopped for meals and bathroom breaks, as well as to text Noora back a few times, but that's been fine. Until she realized that it's _Onsdag_ and that she has a meeting with Noora at 18, and that it's currently 16:56, almost 17:00. She has barely an hour before they meet. Noora sent her address over beforehand, almost immediately after they left Isak and Even's place. Noora's place is not that close to hers, either. Public transportation isn't that great, and basically, the world is telling her that she's doomed because she was lazy. That seems about right.

She gets into her room and rushes through her closet for a cute outfit. Eventually, Eva finds a burgundy turtleneck and light wash jeans, as well as an olive green long jacket that she feels a tiny bit guilty for forgetting about. She puts them on in a hurry, then checks the time. Time enough to check herself in the mirror. Eva puts on makeup to conceal her acne and her dark circles and then puts on a light red lipstick that compliments with the sweater that she put on earlier.

The time's 17:13, and it'll take more than half an hour for Eva to bike to Noora's place. Screw it. She'll take the fucking tram. Eva rushes toward the door, puts on little black wedge shoes that are just comfortable enough, and grabs her belongings. She unlocks the door and walks outside. Eva turns back towards the door (almost over-dramatically, she thinks) and locks it.

Eva takes the elevator down because she doesn't want to risk twisting her ankle in these wedges. Even though they're comfortable, they won't be comfortable with a hospital visit. Luckily, nobody enters the elevator, meaning that she has a straight path down the elevator to the ground floor of the apartment building. The door opens into the ground floor and Eva steps out speedwalking. She has to be hilarious to look at, with her formally casual outfit, her wedges, and her goddamn _speedwalking_. It's all she has, though, so she takes it with full stride. (Literally.) Eva speedwalks, breaks into a run at some points, to get to the nearest tram stop. Eva looks at Google Maps and it tells her that the next tram is coming in 3 minutes. Lucky her. 

The three minutes that it takes seem to last forever, with the sun brightening the sky less and less but not to the point of a sunset or even near-sunset. Finally, the tram arrives, and she climbs on and pays for it by scanning her prepaid public transportation card. Eva looks back down at Google Maps. A whole (absolutely _lovely_) 15 minutes. She has too much time and too little time at the same exact moment. Eva anxiously sits down and taps her foot in the quick rhythm that's pulsing throughout her body. She keeps going back to her phone, looking up at the stop and listening to which one is next and which one is after that and which one is after that, and going back to her phone to check the stop, then looking up to see if that's coming up, and nearly jumps up at every stop. This tram is taking too damn long, it's getting her nervous that she won't make it on time, of course, her procrastination made a fool of her once again, _God, God, just please hurry up!_

It finally ends up at the stop she wants, but she needs to take another tram to get there. It's 17:34 now and Eva feels late, but she's not late yet. (Hooray.) The tram takes only a minute more to get there (it _feels_ like an hour, but Eva keeps checking the time, so maybe that's why). The other tram only takes ten minutes to get to where she has to be. Eva sits around on the tram, where she's essentially alone, except for somebody on the opposite end of the train who has their headphones in. They smile at her when she leaves, and she can't help but feel good, no matter what happens. 

She walks to Noora's apartment according to the instructions Google Maps is giving her, and then Eva looks at the number of the apartment and back to her phone. Apartment 304. Eva turns off Google Maps, fixes her hair a little bit, and clears her voice. 

"_Hei_, it's Eva. Can you buzz me in?" 

* * *

Noora welcomes her to the door with a smile. She's wearing a light grey sweater, which brings out the grey in her blue-grey eyes, as well as black jeans.

"Hi! I'll take your coat and if you wouldn't mind taking your shoes off, that would be great," Noora says quickly.

"Oh, of course! I can put my coat away if you just show me where," Eva replies. She quickly takes off her wedges and sets them by the door, but not in the way of the door.

"No, let me take it," Noora repeats, and what can Eva do? She takes her coat off and hands it to Noora, and Noora goes to a nearby closet and hangs it up. 

"I made dinner," Noora says breezily. "Or, somewhat. I kind of made pizza dough and bought a bunch of toppings to customize it with."

Eva smiles, this is really too much! "Thank you so much!" 

"No problem." Noora shrugs. "I figured that we needed something to do, and pizza is definitely fun."

"Is it fun because it's delicious or is it fun because we're cooking it ourselves?" Eva asks.

"Both, definitely both," Noora replies with a very serious nod and a very serious voice and they both laugh while Noora shows Eva to the kitchen.   
  
"I really like your apartment," Eva says while they walk leisurely to the kitchen. 

"Thanks!" Noora responds, blushing just a little bit. Maybe that's just the light bouncing off of Noora's cheeks. In a proud tone, she adds, "I decorated myself."

"It looks... ethereal," Eva replies.

Noora breaks out into a grin. 

This night is going to be amazing.

* * *

Eva forgot that she is very bad at cooking. By some miracle, she managed to do the cookies, but she is not on top of the world. She remembers now.

"Kind of forgot to mention, I'm not so great at cooking," Eva said. 

"Oh, that's okay," Noora says breezily. "We're just rolling out the dough, maybe chopping some things up, and then putting stuff on it. As for the oven, I have a timer." 

Noora turns around to grab a little mint-colored thing that Eva recognizes as a kitchen timer.   
  
"The best part about this one is that it rings obnoxiously loud, so I also usually know when someone's using it when they're not supposed to. Not that I have roommates anymore, but, it was helpful when I did." Noora shrugs. 

"Did you not like your roommates or something?" Eva asks. 

"Oh, I loved them to death. We were just very petty." Noora grins a small evil grin. Her features soften up as quickly as the grin came. "Only against each other, though. I haven't sabotaged your pizza or anything."

"That seems like a threat," Eva replies. "Maybe I should sabotage your kitchen in flour."

"Well, that wouldn't be very nice, _Frøken_ Mohn, would it?" Noora says in a posh voice and they're giggling like they're teenagers, which they pretty much are, but they aren't anymore.

It's... nice being with Noora. Refreshing. Noora makes Eva laugh a lot and Eva cracks a lot of jokes that Noora finds funny, which is amazing.

"Is it topping time?" Eva asks after they finish chopping all of the vegetables and rolling out their dough, making sure to wash their hands a lot in between. "I hope it's topping time."

"It's sauce time unless you want your pizza to be gross." Noora holds her stomach in what Eva thinks is an exaggerated movement.

"No, you're right. Grease from cheese isn't adequate."

Noora wrinkles her nose. _Oh fuck. _That is adorable and Eva has gotten hit with the "oh right I love her" feelings. She can't speak. 

Noora moves to get a few things, and Eva is still in a trance. "Tomato sauce, olive oil, or pesto?" Noora asks.

Eva jumps. "You scared me!"

Noora laughs, and Eva remembers that she has to respond. "Uh, I'll take olive oil if it's not any trouble for you."

"Of course it's not, Eva." Noora hands Eva the olive oil bottle and a brush, and Eva pours some olive oil on the pizza and spreads it all over with the brush, even in the crust area, because pizza crust tastes like shit alone. 

"Can you hand me the olive oil and the brush?" Noora asks. "I need it for my crust."

"Oh, of course! Sorry, my hands are oily," Eva responds.

Noora grins. "It's fine, I can take a bit of grease." She flexes a muscle and _holy shit she is so much more muscular than Eva ever thought_ and Eva chokes on her own spit.

Eva does tend to be a bit pathetic. "I don't doubt it," she says, trying to sound funny and light, rather than awestruck. She quickly hands over the olive oil and brush over to Noora, who puts some olive oil on the brush and spreads it gently.

Eva quickly moves over to her pizza and puts mozzarella on the pizza, as well as some fresh mozzarella that Noora has. Really, Eva goes all out on cheese. Then, she adds onions and tomatoes on her pizza.

She looks at Noora's pizza. She has some cheese, but quite a few vegetables. Noora's healthy. Noora notices Eva looking at her and her pizza and smiles.

"Are you done?" Noora asks. "We can put your pizza on the stone and in the oven."

"You can go first," Eva replies, holding her hands up. 

"Eva, you're my guest. Please go first," Noora says.

'"You only have one pizza stone right? I didn't bring anything to this. I shall die on this stake."

"But, you're my guest..."

"No, _you_ go first," Eva says in an insistent, childlike voice. 

"I surrender!" Noora holds her hands up high. She goes to wash her hands and she hums something that Eva vaguely recognizes from a long time ago.

"In Your Eyes?" Eva asks Noora.

"Yeah, it is. Have you seen _Say Anything_?'" Noora replies.

"No, I've just heard the famous song." Eva sighs. 

"That's our next order of business." When Eva looks up at Noora, Noora has a fierce glint in her eyes and a fierce smile to accompany it. "We can sit on the couch and eat pizza."

"We're not going to ruin it?" Eva asks.

"It's grey and easy to remove stains from," Noota explains. 

"Got it." Eva nods curtly, and that makes them both double over.

"Okay?" Noora asks.

Eva smiles confidently. "Okay."

* * *

The pizzas are both out of the oven and cooling on the kitchen counter. Noora has sliced hers already, but Eva's is too hot to slice right now. Noora is fiddling with her Mac and the CD/DVD player on it. She has the disc of _Say Anything_ with her. 

"Do you know when this movie was released?" Eva asks. 

"I think sometime in the late 80s," Noora replies.

"This movie is 30 years old," Eva remarks. "So much time has passed. And we're 20. I can't talk about this anymore, I'm going to have an existential crisis."

Noora laughs. She fiddles with the remote to turn on the bluetooth on her TV, and she connects to her Mac. 

The Mac's screen appears on the TV, so Noora double clicks the DVD file on her computer and it pops up on the TV, as well as the computer. She turns up the sound a little bit on the remote for the TV.

Eva feels awkward just sitting here and watching Noora do everything. "I'm gonna go cut my pizza, if that's alright with you?"

"Yeah, sure," Noora replies, seeming a little bit distracted. 

Eva gets up and picks up the pizza cutter. She marks some lines on top with the cutter, and then applies pressure to them. She hears the crust break and the smell of pizza becomes just a little more prevalent to her. Eva finishes cutting her pizza, and she puts her slices on a plate that Noora has placed nearby. Eva picks up her plate and Noora's plate and balances them. She brings them over back to Noora's couch and coffee table, where Noora is already on the couch.

"Here you go, madam." She sets the plates on the table in front of where Noora is sitting and where she thinks she's going to sit.

"Do you need water at all?" Noora asks. 

"I can get it for us if you tell me where the glasses are," Eva says. "I'm already up, so it's reallly no trouble at all."

"Ok, they're in the cabinets right above the sink," Noora says. "I have a Britta, that water is probably a little bit better than tap water."

Eva heads back to the kitchen and grabs the glasses from where Noora has instructed her. She pours the Britta water into both of the glasses, then refills it with some tap water. Eva puts everything back into place, and heads to the couch, where Noora has gotten coasters out. 

"Thank you," Eva says. 

"No problem." Noora replies. "Blankets?"

Eva chooses one, and Noora spreads some on over them as well, so they're under blankets together. With their knees, but together nonetheless.

"Oh, you can put your feet up on the couch. Sorry, I just assumed that you would go for it," Noora tells Eva.

"Oh, okay." Eva puts her feet up under the blankets in a comfortable cross legged sort of way. Noora brings her laptop up and clicks something. The movie starts playing on the TV.

* * *

It's about half an hour into the movie and Noora and Eva have moved into a cuddling position that could put Eva into cardiac arrest at any moment. Eva's arms are around Noora, and they're only separated by blankets. 

Eva finished about half of her pizza before she felt full. She'll bring the rest home for leftovers.

The movie is amazing. It feels real, like an American high school extension of her teenage years, with the uncertainty of the summer after graduation and the waiting until university and everything. It's joy and drama intertwined in their life.

Noora smiles up at Eva and Eva smiles back. Noora burrows a little bit closer to Eva and Eva is officially deceased. She can imagine the death certificate: "death by being useless bisexual." She focuses back on the movie.

* * *

The movie is over and the credits are rolling.

"So, what'd you think?" Noora asks, clicking on her computer to stop the movie.

"It was so good," Eva replies before she can really think about her response. "It's real. I feel like I've just lived out the summer before university in a way. Except there was no love, and I actually tried really hard in my third year."

"My tryhard years were first and third. Second year, I was in this really bad relationship. I followed him to London in that daze." Noora looks sad. "And that's why I've given up on men."

Eva doesn't really know what to say. So she pats Noora, because they're still in a cuddling position.

"What time is it?" Eva asks Noora.

"It's 21:17, why?" Noora replies.

"Shit, I am so sorry, but I have to go home."

"It's okay, do you want to take your pizza home?"

"Yes," Eva says. She makes her way over to the kitchen and washes her glass out.

"You don't need to do that!" Noora exclaims as she goes through her cabinets.

"Of course I do," Eva replies. She puts the glass where a few things from earlier are. 

"Here." Noora hands Eva a Tupperware container. Eva grabs her pizza from her plate and fits it into the Tupperware container. After that, she washes her plate and puts it to dry where she sees some other plates.

"Thank you so much for inviting me here and your hospitality," Eva tells Noora.

"It's no problem. Thank you for coming!" Noora replies. 

"I guess I'll see you soon," Eva says.

"I suppose I will. Goodbye for now."

Eva stands in the doorway. "Bye for now."

The way home doesn't seem as long as the way there, and Eva has enough time to think about everything and how it went.

When she gets home, she rubs her makeup off and changes into pajamas and sets her alarm like normal. She sits on the side of her bed for a few minutes, and she remembers the way Noora felt in her arms.

She was warm, she was happy, and she smelled like home.

Eva gets into bed and turns off the lamp.

* * *

Eva's break is almost over, meaning that she has classes again at the one and only NTNU. However, it's in Trondheim and Eva is in Oslo. Isak's technically moved to Trondheim, but he comes back to Even during breaks. Eva has too much going on in Oslo to move away, even temporarily. However, not moving to Trondheim means that she has to get to college somehow, and it's starting to get truly tiring. 

Usually, what's she's done is that she gets up at her usual time on _Onsdag_, gets ready and all, and eats breakfast. Same old, same old. She grabs her backpack and stuffs all of her books, as well as her laptop and some clothes, into it. Eva puts her purse in the backpack as well. Then, she lugs all of that on a walk to Oslo's Central Station. The train to Trondheim is at 07:33, so it's not anything she can't handle. Usually, the price is a solid 367 kroner, something she pays with card. It's 288 on the way back, which is better, but not by much. Almost 80 kroner can buy her some groceries, and that's it. Not even that many groceries, either, depending on the groceries, of course. Eva goes back on _Lørdag_ around 15:30, and she gets back at around ten minutes past 23.

But because it's _Torsdag_, it's time for Eva somewhat re-moving back into the apartment she shares with Isak. School doesn't start until the next _Mondag_, and she doesn't start school until _Onsdag_ at 18:00 sharp. Despite the routine (and the time), she still manages to mess up. She almost trips over her shoes, and she accidentally puts a little bit of concealer on her lips instead of lip gloss. She's quite the disaster, it seems. 

Eva practically flies out of the house in order to get to the train station. There's no reason to, she just wants to run. It isn't that far away, either, so she can run the distance. She gets to the train station, and she sees a reflection of herself in a nearby store window. Her hair is crazy and she looks kind of like a madwoman. Eva loves it. She smooths her hair down a little just to the point where she looks somewhat neat again. Another cog in the Oslo machine. _Yeah, right_. Eva snorts to herself a little and looks around. She walks into the station and looks around. It never ceases to marvel Eva, no matter how many times she's been here, just how _cool_ this station is. It's got an old-fashioned vibe to it on the outside, with its windows and the marble "skeleton" on the inside, but it's also just so modern, with glass and escalators and minimalist flooring. This station feels almost perfect (with the exception of the bathrooms). She sits down at a random table near a restaurant that isn't open yet.

She has website designing commissions often, and today is no exception. Since a lot of places in Oslo can't bother to just use Squarespace or something, they pay her to do it. (Eva doesn't care. It gives her money.) She pulls her laptop out of her bag and opens it up. It hums to life as soon as Eva presses the button. She knows exactly how this process works. Eva hasn't figured out how to manipulate it yet (oh, her friends will be doomed when she does), but then again, it's not an absolute necessity. Eva logs in to the computer, and logs into the Wi-Fi. She's had an account on this Wi-Fi for a while since she's been here so often. Maybe too often. (Does that really exist though?) She opens up the browser. Wow, she hasn't worked on this project for the past few weeks. Since it's been pretty much done and has only a few errors that need to be fixed, she's been slacking a little bit. All of the coding is done, and the website looks great. Eva just needs to work out the text on the English version of the website, and then she is done. She has a reason to be slacking. Her English skills are good, not the absolute best in the world, but good enough for native English speakers to understand what she writes. She goes on a thesaurus (that's one of her favorite words in English, it's fun enough to say in Norwegian, but pronouncing it in English with all of the syllables on her tongue, theh-sawr-uhs, a true beauty) to look up some words that she can't find good enough synonyms of. Then, she's done. It didn't take any time at all, and she's getting around 6000 kroner for it. All in all, a good deal.

The train is going to be about an hour. There are no delays, which is good. Eva's accounted for this by not starting with her classes until 17, a good two and a half hours after the train arrives, but the delays are scary, scary times. The number of times that Eva's nearly sent a frantic e-mail to her professor that she won't be on time is a terrifying amount, especially when it snows. When it snows, Eva is doomed, essentially. 

But today, it is still summer, and it is not snowing. Eva is determined to enjoy the lack of snow while it lasts. She goes onto the Python project from earlier in the week and takes the good fifteen minutes to finish that assignment. Just some small editing and she's done. 

Forty-five minutes left. Forty-five minutes that she doesn't know what to do with.

She looks at the directory and sees a restaurant called La Baguette. She decides to walk to the restaurant, which is in the food court. 

The station is bustling, which is both surprising and not-at-all surprising to Eva. It's so early in the morning, but it's _Torsdag_ and all of the business people are almost at the end of their week and need to get going and can't risk being late. There are also a few tourists, not so many now that everything's crowded and the prices are super hiked up, but they're still there. Eva nearly bumps into a few people while walking, but she manages not to disturb anybody (too much) on the way to the food court. La Baguette is there and waiting, line empty, and an employee is readily smiling despite the fact that there are no customers. 

Eva walks up to the restaurant stand and looks around. 

"_Hei_, can I order a chocolate croissant, please?" she asks the employee. 

The employee looks relieved to get a customer. Eva takes a quick glance around the food court and it's almost completely empty. 

"29 kroner, please," the employee replies and Eva pays her due in order to get the croissant. The employee hands it to her from the case and Eva thanks them. Then, she turns around and looks for a place to sit.

She heads towards the booths and sits down at a two-person booth. Eva's one person. She doesn't want to be one person. Maybe if Noora was here, Eva would be a lot less bored... and then Eva shakes her mind. _Get out of your mind, Mohn. _

Last night was really fun. Noora was smart, charming, fun, and entertaining. Not to mention, pretty. But those were all a given. Noora had smiled a lot, and Eva had put both elbows on the table to listen to Noora talk, and Noora hadn't looked at her weirdly or in disgust. That was a bit of a shock. That was such an affectionate move, but maybe Noora didn't care? Or maybe she did, but she didn't want to bring it up? Also, Eva's heart had raced whenever Noora had gotten close, whenever their hands brushed over each other's, whenever they were close. 

And, goddammit, how could Eva forget that she had that damn report due next _Mondag_? 

At least she got away from the Noora train of thought. Or did she? Eva exhales harshly and opens up her computer. She goes to Google Docs and stares at the blank new document. Then, Eva loads her prompt, stretches, and starts typing. Joy, oh joy.

* * *

7 minutes left till her train comes. Eva looks at the corner of her screen and realizes just how little she actually wrote in that time, but also how much. What a pain. 

The food court around her has started to gradually fill up with more people, but it's not like there are so many people that Eva feels as if she's suffocating. She packs up her computer and stretches a little bit (not so much as to attract the attention of others). Then, she starts walking to the train station. It's 07:27 now, too early to really start receiving routine messages, but she checks her texts anyways. E-mails feel a little more sacred, something she has to stop and read, so she removes her promotions and leaves her coursework and _Fredag_ e-mails to read for later. After she does that, she's found her way to the train and she gets on in her seat. At her seat, she pulls out a neck pillow from her backpack as well as a jean jacket. She quickly puts the jacket on, then the pillow on. She won't lean against the train window, with the bumps that bring headaches worse than hangovers and the germs. The backpack goes on her lap, and she is falling asleep, lulled by the general quiet of the train this early in the morning and the noise of clicking keys from desktops.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes, i know this is a dumb plan. that's life.  
my goal was finishing this before august 2019. did i succeed? nei nei nei nei nei. nei. nei.  
this took way too long! i've written some more chapters, though.  
also, i made this chapter in two parts, the part with eva's date and the part with eva going to ntnu. am i an idiot? yes. yes i am.  
if you're reading this, that means that i have my writing instagram up! it is @glasseswrites, and yeah!  
frøken means miss, but using mr/miss/mrs is very archaic in norway for some reason? so nobody really ever says those any more, which is why saying frøken is so funny and weird


End file.
